practicals
by AGENT Kuma-chan
Summary: Clearly, UA didn't want Mina to pass any of her exams. Who thought it'd be a good idea to make Bakugou a villain in the test?


**Title: **practicals

**A/N:** For the Acid Zine! I wanted to do something more action-based for once.

**Summary:** _Clearly, UA didn't want Mina to pass any of her exams. Who thought it'd be a good idea to make Bakugou a villain in the test?_

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"Eek!" Mina squeaked as she fell on her butt, narrowly dodging an explosive burst. Fireballs flew over her head, smashing destructively through a house. As a wall collapsed, she stared at the scorched bricks and gulped. "That…was close."

"Yeah." Crouching next to her, Kirishima nodded fearfully. His sleeves were frayed, small holes burned from the stray sparks. They were going to have to take their uniform in for repairs after this. "Really—"

As he spoke, the house burst into flames. They stared at it for a long second, then at each other before quickly scrambling to their feet. Behind them was a car and Mina didn't want to know what would happen if the flames reached it. When the flames reached it. Already the houses next to the first one were catching fire. Scanning their surroundings, she spotted a small alleyway. "There!"

"Where?" Kirishima peered over his shoulder before shoving her head down. "Watch out!"

Another fireball flew overhead. _BOOM_! Mina could hardly call the building in front of her a house anymore. Grabbing Kirishima's hand, she sprinted to the alley. "Hurry!"

Laughter echoed through the streets behind her and she wasn't sure if that was Bakugou's or the principal's. A shiver ran up her spine either way. When Mina had first heard that this semester's practical's opponents were teacher/student mix-ups, she had been excited. It would be way easier than last time. They didn't even need to beat up any teachers this time, they just had to save a bunch of hostages.

Clearly, UA didn't want her to pass any of her exams. Who thought it was a good idea to make Bakugou a villain? Any restraint he had was completely lost now and she didn't need a bird's eye view of their exam grounds to see the destruction from his wake. Mina had heard explosions before she'd even encountered Bakugou. Why couldn't they get someone easy, like Minata?

Ahead of her, there was a fork in the road. She didn't even think as she took the left turn; the explosions herded her as she tried to get them as far away as possible. Mina felt like a rat in the maze as she raced through the winding streets, hoping she wouldn't find a dead end at the next corner. Luckily, Bakugou was the only one chasing them down—the principal had opted to stay with the hostages, guarding them.

That thought didn't reassure her as much as it should have.

Only when she couldn't hear the explosions did she stop moving, dropping Kirishima's hand as she leaned against a wall. Sliding down to her knees, she panted, "Do you think he might be…just a little too into this?"

"Just a little." Kirishima winced as a plume of smoke rose several blocks away. He rubbed the back of his neck. "He's really not holding back."

"Neither is the principal. Did you hear his threats to the hostages?" She rested her head on her knees with a groan. It was impossible. It was entirely impossible. She didn't have Deku's brains or Todoroki's instincts or even Momo's strategies. Tangling her hands in her hair, Mina grumbled, "We're going to fail."

"No, we—" Another loud blast drowned out Kirishima's words. The black plume was a little closer now and they didn't have long before they were caught.

"Is he part bloodhound?" Mina grumbled, glaring up at the pillar of smoke.

"Pitbull," Kirishima corrected, shielding his eyes from the sun as he squinted. "…okay, we might fail."

"Right?" Mina stared up at him pitifully. They'd have another camp and she'd get stuck in remedial lessons again and— "No summer vacation!"

"Maybe…" Kirishima scratched his cheek, considering it all. He tilted his head, ran a hand through his hair, and bit his lip. Sitting down next to her, he yanked at his short hair, making it even spikier than normal. "I…I can't think of anything."

"He listens to you, can't you…" she trailed off meaningfully.

"That's cheating!" Kirishima's jaw dropped, horrified.

"It's not!" she argued back, puffing her cheeks. She glared at him balefully. "We're just using our resources like any hero would."

"…right." He furrowed his brow, doubt laced in his words. After a few seconds, he shook his head. "He wouldn't do it."

Well, that was what she had expected, but she had to give it a shot. What else was there to do? It was like playing a game on insane mode. Maybe together they could barely take down either the principal or Bakugou, but both? And save the hostages?

"It's impossible!" Mina moaned, crossing her arms and burying her face. No matter how much she racked her brains, all she could think of was charging and splitting up. Simple tactics that her opponents would easily see through. "Do you think they could double fail us?"

Kirishima stared her in a panic, the possibility dawning on him. "Aizawa-sensei…he could do that."

"He is that sadistic, isn't he?" Mina's shoulder's drooped as she considered it. "Like, he could take us all to the beach and then lock us up next to the window."

"Or take us to the mountains and keep us indoors the entire time." Kirishima's hands clenched, his fist hitting the pavement. "Last time we could practice with everyone, but what if…"

"He doesn't let us go at all?" Mina's eyes widened—she couldn't even sneak out to any barbeques or play with sprinklers or anything. Just her, Kirishima, and the others, trapped in the school, unable to do anything but watch as their summer slipped away.

_BOOM!___Mina jumped, remembering where they were. What they were fighting. This one sounded barely a block away. They had maybe minutes before Bakugou caught up. If they ran—no, there was no point in running again. Even if they had the time, neither she nor Kirishima would come up with a plan.

It just wasn't them. It would never be them. She was doomed to never have a summer again, at this rate. Disappointed, she studied the closest plume of smoke, wondering how long it'll take for Bakugou to pop out of the nearest corner. "I guess that's it."

Kirishima clenched his fist, banging the wall behind him in frustration. The brick crumbled, losing to his hardened form. Taking a deep breath as he steeled himself, he shot her a half-hearted smile. "At least we'll fail together."

Fail together. Mina blinked, staring at him, before laughing. _Together_. She hadn't thought of it that way. Together. She felt a little lighter. Well, if she had to fail with someone, she was glad it was Kirishima. Around him, she didn't feel like a complete idiot.

Riding on this high, she slapped her cheeks. If they were going to go out like idiots, might as well go the full way. Standing up, she dusted her knees. "Plan A it is."

"Plan A?" Kirishima scrambled to his feet, standing next to her. He rubbed his ear, as though he wasn't sure if he heard right.

"Yeah." She beamed brightly at him. It was simple, really. They should have just done this from the start. Neither of them were strategists and they shouldn't have bothered with it. All it did was waste time and energy. "We split up to distract Bakugou and save the hostages."

Surprised, Kirishima's jaw dropped. "Didn't we agree it wouldn't work?"

Mina snickered. Now that she'd decided, the tension just left her. "We don't have a better plan."

He nodded, giving that to her. "Yeah, but shouldn't we just work together then?"

"Nah." Mina crossed her arms, shaking her head vigorously. "Then we'd definitely fail the test—it'd just be students fighting students, like our first test."

Realization slowly dawned on Kirishima. "And if we split up, we can at least try to do the test and save the hostages."

"Right. That's got to give us some marks at least." Hands on her hips, she smirked confidentially. Seriously, they should have just gone with this from the get go. "This is what we're good at. Dealing with things head on. Not thinking things through. This plan suits us perfectly."

"That's not really a compliment, you know," he commented flatly before breaking into laughter. Kirishima smashed a fist into his open palm. He looked as relaxed as she felt. "You're right. A man is supposed to face things head on, after all."

"Right?" She puffed her chest, proud. Jabbing a thumb at herself, Mina grinned. "I'm quicker, so I'll distract Bakugou."

"Huh?" Kirishima frowned, scrunching his face as he considered it. "Shouldn't you save the hostages then? You can slip past the principal."

"Yeah but you and Bakugou will get caught up in a dual or something." Mina rolled her eyes. She could already picture the wake of destruction from that. "And after he steamrolls you, I'll get tag-teamed."

"I wouldn't get steamrolled!" Kirishima protested, indignant.

"Fine, fine." She threw her hands up; it was easier to just agree than to argue about this. "Let's rock, paper, scissors over it, okay?"

"…alright. That's fair." Kirishima agreed reluctantly. Raising his right fist, he started to shake it. "Rock, paper—"

She didn't wait for him to finish before turning on her heel, already sprinting toward Bakugou. Ignoring Kirishima's surprised squawk, she hollered, "CATCH ME IF YOU CAN!"

Mentally, she sent an apology to Kirishima. The principal was far scarier than Bakugou, there was no way she was dealing with him.


End file.
